When it was over, on July 5, Warriors general manager Bob Myers was finally able to exhale a long, satisfying breath. The previous five days had been a whirlwind, with Golden State one of five teams included in the very public chase of the league’s top free agent—center Dwight Howard—all while pulling strings behind the scenes in hopes of landing Denver wing Andre Iguodala, a better fit for the upstart team.

The front office had been aggressive from the beginning of free agency, and had been putting in 20-hour days since free agency kicked off on July 1. They knew that Howard was a longshot to come to the Bay Area, but Iguodala was more realistic. Sort of.

“Andre was still a longshot, too,” Myers told Sporting News. “And it looked like more of a longshot as we were going through the process. I remember walking into my house late at night, just about every night that week, and telling my wife, ‘This is disappointing because no one cares about the work you put in, they just care about the result.’ We were ready to not get the result. You can say you tried really hard, but no one wants to hear that. Many times it looked futile. I killed it, five, 10, 20 different times. I said, ‘We’re not getting him, we can’t do it.’”

But the Warriors did, in the end, get Iguodala, and in doing so, made one of the most important free-agent signings in the history of the franchise, one that figures to have a big impact on the West race this year. The Warriors have been rebuilding for what seems like two decades. After a breakthrough in the postseason last year, though, Golden State now is viewed by players around the league as a free-agent destination. It is impossible to overstate how badly all 30 teams want to be seen that way.

To fully appreciate what a bellwether move this was for the Warriors, go back to the winter of 2011. In the hectic days after the lockout, the Warriors thought they had locked up center Tyson Chandler to a $60 million deal. That was before the Knicks swooped in, though, and made Chandler a pitch worth $6 million less than the Warriors deal. Chandler saw the Knicks as a better opportunity, and went to New York.

Now, the coin has been flipped. The more Iguodala met with the Warriors, the more excited he was to join the team. Golden State did not have enough cap space to sign Iguodala, who was looking at offers in the neighborhood of four years and $52 million from the Kings and Mavericks, as well as a five-year, $60 million contract from Denver. But Iguodala’s enthusiasm drove the Warriors to keep searching for ways to dump salary.

Eventually, they packaged four draft picks and Brandon Rush in order to get Utah to take on Andris Biedrins and Richard Jefferson. And Iguodala signed for four years, $48 million.

“After meeting him and talking with him and seeing his desire to join our team, his eagerness, it almost served as a motivating factor to get the deal done,” Myers said. “He wanted it badly and was willing to make economic concessions to do it. Not like most free agents—90, 95 percent of free agents go where they get the most money. The fact that he was willing to do that served as a motivating factor us, and also as a sign of respect for how our organization is viewed by players. It was a big moment for us. It was great to see a player choose us when he had other options.”

That’s a welcome change for a franchise with an underwhelming history on the free-agent market—the Warriors had not landed a player of Iguodala’s caliber on the market since bringing Rick Barry back from the ABA in 1972. But Iguodala believed that the Warriors had the potential to be a contender, with star guard Stephen Curry, talented young wings Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes, and a potentially dynamic frontcourt of Andrew Bogut and David Lee.

This is a team, remember, that has not won a championship since Barry led them to an improbable run to a title in 1975.

“We felt in a sense, like we were moving the needle and getting closer for a moment like signing Iguodala,” Myers said. “That doesn’t mean it is going to happen. The odds were very long on that, though, for a multitude of reasons. It could have fallen apart at any moment. We had to create cap space, create flexibility, and then still had to be able to convince a player with a healthy number of options, like Iguodala had, to come here. Everything has to line up and break right. Fortunately, they did.”

With everything having broken just right, the Warriors got their man. The long days the front office put in paid off and Iguodala is now a centerpiece on one of the league’s most versatile and balanced rosters. But the difference between up-and-coming youngsters and legitimate title contenders often comes down to one piece, one free agent who decides he wants to play for one organization even if he needs to give up money to make it happen.

It’s a big corner to turn. As training camp slowly approaches, Myers and his front-office cohorts can take comfort knowing they’ve made that transition.